Super Soakers

The long-overlooked bath is back—and the benefits are heating up

Sure, the spa at Los Angeles' newly revamped Sofitel hotel boasts 20-head Swiss rainfall showers and zebrawood-paneled VIP nooks with rainbow-lit chromatherapy tubs. But with a bath butler on hand to fill your tub with the sort of cocktail that would make poor old Mr. Bubble blush—skin-softening powdered milk; a blend of ylang-ylang, jasmine, and plumeria essential oils; and a sprinkling of jasmine or hibiscus blooms (depending on what's in season) to bob soothingly along beside you—why bother poking one terry-cloth-slippered toe outside your hotel suite?

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"Spa baths are making a comeback," asserts Noella Gabriel, who spends her days dreaming up ever-more-decadent products and treatments for the spa brand Elemis. "Women used to say, `Why am I sitting around in the tub for half an hour? I could do that at home!'" These days, sybarites are more than happy to be dunked in hot water for 20 or 30 minutes before, say, a hot-stone massage, and with good reason: Though they might not feel it while submerged, they sweat due to the heat, prompting the release of toxins. The high temperature also increases blood flow to muscles and joints, reducing ache-inducing inflammation—and exponentially upping the benefits of whatever indulgence is to follow.

"The more you loosen and ease the muscles before a massage, the more you can stretch them during it," Gabriel says. But bath time's most unique benefits may be mental. Since the body itself is up to 70 percent water, immersing it in H2O provides "an incredibly nurturing, homecoming, safe sort of feeling that we get nowhere else," Gabriel says, describing the oversize "slipper baths" some spas are installing, in which knees are supported to subtly replicate the tucked-up pose of a child in the womb. "In them, water laps against the body, creating a constant, relaxing vibration. Everybody, irrespective of size, feels cocooned and safe," she says. These benefits may well outlast the dip itself. In a small Japanese study published last year, researchers who tested participants' saliva for cortisol and chromogranin A (two chemical giveaways of stress) before and after each of a series of spa baths found that the aquatic sessions reduced both in those who started out with elevated anxiety levels.

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While its exact mechanism is not fully understood, spiking the body's core temperature results in a deeper, more uninterrupted sleep, doctors suspect, because it helps rejigger the body's circadian rhythm; i.e., it elevates the body to its ideal pre-sleep temperature. In one study, Cynthia Dorsey, PhD, director of behavioral sleep medicine at Sleep Health Centers in Bedford, Massachusetts, found repeated evening baths comparable to taking prescription sleep aid zolpidem (generic Ambien). "Baths are just one of the therapies I suggest to my patients—they're not a cure for insomnia," Dorsey says. "But it's good to know there are alternatives to medication." Since some people feel energized directly after bathing, health and nutrition guru Andrew Weil, MD, suggests steeping at least an hour before bed; he also says a quick spray of cold water before climbing out of the bath will, ironically, help retain warmth by closing pores and stopping sweating.

Spas may be dressing up their menus with increasingly complex ablutions (the ultimate bath at Hong Kong's Landmark Mandarin Oriental, for example, includes 99 roses, candlelight, and a tub brimming with a magnum of Billecart-Salmon champagne for the bargain price of $4,975), but Weil is more inspired by the simple soak perfected centuries ago in Japan. There, public baths, or sento, were first written about in 1266. Today, bathing remains a social custom shared with everyone from family members to colleagues. Even Weil says adapting to the group-soak mentality was "awkward" at first. "Twenty years ago I taught a workshop in the mountains of Japan, and a very eminent cancer expert was expected. Just before dinner, one of his students came rushing in and said, `Professor Obitsu has arrived, and he wants to take a bath with you!'" he says, chuckling. "You wouldn't hear that on this side of the world!" For Weil, the advantage of Japanese bathing is that a visit to a thermal hot springs, or onsen, starts off with individual showers, where everyone scrubs down with a scarflike, abrasive cloth. Thus, the actual cleansing takes place before anyone ever gets in the tub, "so there's no sitting in dirty water that's getting cold," he says.

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Beauty-wise, however—as lukewarm-shower-advocating dermatologists have preached for decades—sitting in very hot water with little, if any, moisture-sealing skin care may do more harm than good. Though the dermis drinks up water while sub-merged, each session compromises its moisture-retaining oil barrier—so any improvement tends to evaporate the moment we step out of the tub. "Water itself has a mechanical effect in removing oil," says New York City dermatologist Dennis Gross, MD. "Plus, hard water, which is high in calcium, stiffens skin's own oil and transforms it to a waxy state. You're left with dry skin, which can become inflamed and itchy." Luckily, preventing this is relatively easy. "Towel dry immediately and apply a heavy cream to lock in the moisture," he says.

What goes into the bath is also key. Gabriel advises her clients to avoid foaming baths with harsh surfactants in favor of salts or moisture-boosting oils and milks. Weil helped develop Origins' new The Way of the Bath Matcha Tea Body Scrub (fortified with the only kind of tea that employs the whole leaf, for maximum antioxidant content) with essential oils; not only does the scrub leave behind a protective coating, it also buffs away the dead skin layer that prevents moisture from penetrating the skin. Karen Kogut, who founded the all-baths, all-the-time website bathsplendor.com, has negotiated a skin-saving trade-off with herself: "If I'm going to be in there a long time, I keep the temperature a little cooler than I would for a quick dip. And I love bubbles, but I always add a little oil at the same time so they won't dry me out," she says. "As long as I do that, I can take up to two a day."

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